Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method and a computer system for generating interactive electronic documents.
Background Art
Electronic documents are widely used to store, transmit, and receive information, for example in customer communication. Electronic documents may adhere to document formats such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), PDF (Portable Document Format), PS (PostScript), etc. On receipt, besides usual printing of the electronic document, a user may display the electronic document on a computer display. In case of an interactive electronic document, user interaction may be used to adjust a document readout when displaying the electronic document. Using a mouse to move a cursor and to select a specific item of the displayed interactive document, or by touching a specific item on a touch-screen, a user may invoke functions to change how the information stored in an electronic document is displayed. For example, an electronic document may include a list of towns, which are displayed together with a first button for sorting the list alphabetically, and a second button for sorting the list according to a geographic distance from a geographic reference. By pressing the respective button, a user may change the displayed list of towns interactively. At the date of filing of the present specification, an interactive document including a sortable list of towns is published on http://de.selfhtml.org/dhtml/modelle/dom.htm, which uses an extension of the HTML format according to the Document Object Model (DOM) defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). DOM is a platform- and language-neutral interface, which allows programs and scripts to dynamically access and update the content, structure and style of documents.
In customer communication, interactive electronic documents are to be generated and delivered to customers consistently at high speed. In the prior art, however, generation of interactive electronic documents is time consuming and cumbersome.
US 2003/0025732 relates to graphical user interfaces for use in computer systems. A display/editor text file is stored in a first format and a screen layout text file is stored in a second format different from the first format. In response to an input to an operator interface, application software combines current system data with data derived from the display/editor text file to create a populated display/text in said first format. Web scripting software creates a display text in the second format based at least in part on the screen layout text file and the populated display/editor text file. Web browser software displays a user interface on a display monitor based on the display text.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,665,014 relates to rendering a form of a selected form type on multiple different types of display targets. A data model and a form type to render the form are selected. A schema including fields corresponding to the data model associated with the form type is identified. Fields are selected on preference. Meta data associated with the selected fields is determined. Multiple layouts including interface areas corresponding to the selected fields and specifying how the form is to be rendered on different display targets are identified. The form is rendered on different display targets using the identified multiple layouts and the meta data.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,620,893 relates to using features of a software application. A user selects a layout, which is to be used in creating an informational display for displaying results of a data repository query. At least one input field and an image are displayed to the user, the image being a sample informational display based on the selected layout and the at least one input field being displayed in association with at least one feature of the image. Via the input field, a user input is received and used for modifying the at least one feature of the image in a new informational display. The at least one input field may be displayed on top of the displayed sample image, in close proximity to the shown feature.
US 2007/0219973 relates to dynamic statement processing in database systems. A first set of characteristics associated with a dynamic statement is calculated when the dynamic statement matches one of a plurality of dynamic statements previously processed by the database system. The first set of characteristics is compared to a second set of characteristics associated with one of one or more access paths generated for the one previously processed dynamic statement. The one access path is utilized to execute the dynamic statement when the comparison of the first set of characteristics to the second set of characteristics satisfies one or more predetermined criteria.